Pelosi hedges on tax cuts

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday renewed her pledge to pass an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, but now she’s leaving the door open to extending the tax cuts for upper-income Americans.

The California Democrat, speaking in the same room House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared in earlier in the day, said that the “only thing I can tell you is the tax cuts for the middle class will be extended this Congress,” leaving open the possibility that cuts for people making more than $250,000 could be extended at some point, too.

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“What I believe the American people deserve is a tax cut for the middle class,” Pelosi said. “And without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we’re going to do is to say at the end of the day the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts will take place, and that’s what I have to say on the subject.”

Her comments also deepen the confusion about when the cuts might be done — either in the next two weeks or after the November election. The thorny issue of tax cuts has thrown a wrench in an already contentious reelection season for Democrats, exposing a divide within her caucus about raising taxes — even on wealthier Americans — during a soft economy. Republicans have continued to push for an up-or-down vote on tax cuts — they wholeheartedly favor renewing all cuts.

But 31 members the Democratic caucus — many of them facing stiff headwinds in getting reelected to Congress — are too pushing to extend all the tax cuts. Pelosi thinks their logic is flawed.

“The tax cuts at the high end have not produced any jobs; it only increased the deficit,” she said. “We’re still paying the price that they have contributed to the deficit all along. I respect that they have a different view, many of these members are members who are budget hawks, so I think we’ll be able to find some common ground on the subject.”

Pelosi, though, made her view clear: Rich people don’t deserve tax cuts. She said she sees “no justification for going into debt to foreign countries to underwrite and subsidize tax cuts for the wealthiest people of America.”

No matter who gets tax cuts of when, the House will be up for reelection in less than two months, and Pelosi seems to be remaining confident about her party’s chances. She dismissed a question about her place in leadership after the election. When asked about the negative campaign ads being aired across the country that target her, she urged Republicans to keep them coming.

“Spend that money, spend that money, pour it in, spend it all,” she said, before saying that Democrats will be “victorious” on Election Day.